On Monday and Tuesday, Denton County Public Health reported a total of six more residents who have been confirmed to have died as a result of COVID-19, bringing the countywide death toll to 822.
The deaths include a man in his 40s who resided in unincorporated southeast Denton County, a Lewisville woman in her 60s, a man in his 60s who resided in unincorporated southwest Denton County (which includes Lantana), a Lewisville man in his 70s, a Denton man in his 70s and a Lewisville man over 80.
“Please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers,” said Denton County Judge Andy Eads. “We hope community members will get vaccinated, as vaccination remains the best way to reduce the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization and death.”
DCPH only rules a resident’s death as a COVID-19 death if it is determined that the person died as a direct result of COVID-19. Actual dates of death can be released several days to several months after the date of death, due to various reporting agencies and medical records review. COVID-19 deaths are a “lagging indicator,” because it usually takes a couple weeks to a couple months for DCPH to confirm a resident’s death as being the result of COVID-19. The deaths reported in the past few weeks reflect patients who had the Omicron variant during the huge spike in cases this winter.
The number of active cases in the county continues to plummet, down to 3,684 on Tuesday from the Omicron peak of 58,265 active cases on Feb. 11. The local transmission and hospitalization rates remain very low, DCPH Director Dr. Matt Richardson said during Tuesday’s Denton County Commissioners Court meeting.
“The good news continues, as Denton County’s community COVID-19 transmission level continues to be low,” Richardson said. “Active cases are down … You can see we are now reaching a plateau, we’re hanging around 100-150 new cases per week.”
To minimize the spread of COVID-19, DCPH urges residents to get vaccinated and boosted when eligible, test five days after exposure or if you have symptoms of COVID-19, and isolate, quarantine and wear a mask when recommended.
Click here for more information about COVID-19 vaccines in Denton County. For additional COVID-19 data including active case information by municipality, hospital capacity, and ventilator utilization, visit dentoncounty.gov/COVIDstats.
For information regarding DCPH’s upcoming testing centers, visit dentoncounty.gov/COVID19testing.
